Hornets Colts remain unbeaten

PUBLISHED: 08:54 07 January 2010 | UPDATED: 11:32 25 May 2010

Weston Colts 8 pts Hornets Colts 30 pts - IN a weekend with limited live rugby to watch due to the weather, a large crowd turned up at the Weston ground to see this Bristol Combination League derby match in which Hornets gained a bonus point win.

IN a weekend with limited live rugby to watch due to the weather, a large crowd turned up at the Weston ground to see this Bristol Combination League derby match in which Hornets gained a bonus point win.

Playing into the icy wind, but with the bright winter sun behind, Hornets could not have had a better start. Richard Cooksley picked up a loose ball and made ground before feeding Harry Simmons who went into contact on Hornets 10-metre line. The ball was quickly recycled and Sean Disney took advantage to break down the right, outpacing the Weston defence and offloading to Tom Bradley on the Weston 22, who scored.

Following this early score the first quarter was a typical derby affair with much of the play being through the forwards. Weston's big forwards were matched by Hornets in the loose, but had the better of the early scrums until Hornets reorganised their front row.

Weston scored next, when a series of forward drives down the middle resulted in Hornets defence getting sucked in. When the ball was moved right there was a straight forward run in for the Ben Irons for an unconverted try.

In the 25th minute Hornets made good ground down the left following a quick tap from Disney. Ali O'Conner passed to Jermaine Jones who jinked past a couple of defenders before powering over near the posts to score the try and add the extras.

From the restart, Hornets were caught in possession and Weston scored from the resulting penalty through Nick Manning, making it 12-8 to Hornets.

On the half hour, Hornets were reduced to 14 men when Simmons was yellow carded for illegal use of the boot in a ruck. However, three minutes into the period, Matt Cornish who had moved to fly-half, glided through the Weston defence to score a try that was converted by Jones.

Hornets managed to hold off pressure from Weston for the rest of the sin bin period and were back up to full strength by the end of the extended first half to turn around 19-8 up.

Within eight minutes of the start of the second half Hornets through Jones had added two penalties taking the score up to 25-8.

Following this score some of the large Weston pack looked to be tiring and Hornets were able to start moving the ball through the backs with more authority. Weston also lost the main stay of their scrum Paul Cashman, which meant their scrum now came under heavy pressure.

Twenty minutes into the half Cornish accelerated through the Weston defence to score his second try. He was unlucky not to be awarded a third, but the referee was unsighted and awarded a five-metre scrum.

With 13 minutes to go, Hornets lost another man Dexter Nettleton to the bin for not retreating 10 metres following a penalty. These last minutes of the match were played out with uncontested scrums when Weston had run out of front row players.

Man of the match was Sean Disney through whose quick thinking enabled Hornets to get early momentum and his efficient management of opposing scrum half Ollie Trott, who was the pick of the Weston players.

This win means that Hornets remain unbeaten in the league with maximum points from their games.